The article presents findings of a doctoral research project that examined the implementation of legislation targeted at youth `anti-social behaviour', which began with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (Sadler, 2004). A 2-year ethnographic case study examined the implementation of the legislation on an inner city housing estate in England, and the broader effects of the contemporary `youth “anti-social behaviour” agenda' on local policing. Pseudonyms have been used throughout the article to preserve the anonymity of people and places. The research found that increasing knowledge about the legislation among local services involved in community safety, intensified the ways in which young people congregating in the estate's public spaces were problematized and policed. In turn, this began to exacerbate already fragile police—youth relationships and encouraged feelings of stigmatization and social exclusion among local young people.